


True-Biz

by booksthough



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Confused Ricky Bowen (HSMTMTS), Deaf Character, Deaf Ricky Bowen, F/M, Gen, Ricky Bowen Being an Idiot (HSMTMTS), Ricky Bowen Loves Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen-centric (HSMTMTS)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:28:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26187985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booksthough/pseuds/booksthough
Summary: After Nini's month at theater camp, Ricky couldn’t help but be slightly jealous. He loved knowing everything he could about Nini, from her favorite Starbucks drink to her thoughts about current social movements. Yet the biggest part of Nini was something she couldn’t really share with him. While Ricky had some respect for musical theater, he couldn’t truly enjoy it, not in the way hearing people could.//An AU in which Ricky is Deaf, but decides to not let that hold him back from entering the world of musical theater in order to win over his ex-girlfriend, Nini.
Relationships: Big Red & Ricky Bowen (HSMTMTS), Kourtney & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	1. The Auditions: The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I am not Deaf, so I'm using a plethora of internet resources and spoken experiences from my own Deaf comrades to do this piece justice. I would never try to claim I understand the Deaf experience, but I do find Deaf culture to be so fascinating that I wanted to put this idea out there. 
> 
> Also, italics signify ASL, CAPS signify fingerspelling. Conversations that are signed are written in ASL, rather than English, so they will vary slightly from what you might be used to reading. 
> 
> (but cannot guarantee how soon that will be as I can literally only write when I'm high and I'm almost out of edibles lmao)

Ricky grinned to himself as he entered school grounds; for once, he actually felt confident about having a good year. There were a few of reasons for this. Mostly he was excited to be reunited with his girlfriend. The month she had been gone at camp had been incredibly lonely; sure, he was a little nervous to see her seeing as they hadn’t exactly left things on good terms. But they had been friends for so long—11 years now—that was just a bump in the road in the grand scheme of things. But Ricky was also thrilled to finally have an excuse to spend most of his days out of the house. He had been made more and more aware of his parents’ fighting over the summer and he always felt on edge around them now.

  
As Ricky slowed his skateboard to a stop, he looked over at Big Red, giving his friend a nod. He picked up his skateboard and held it under one arm. He kept his helmet on, not wanting his hands to be too full, and waited for Big Red to gather his board before they walked along the school’s sidewalk.

“ _Now, will-be huge, Red_ ,” Ricky sighed, somewhat haphazardly as he only really had one hand to use. “ _ALL start new_.”

Big Red nodded and returned Ricky’s big grin, looking just as happy for the school year to start. “Hell yeah.” He nodded. “ _JR year. Exciting. Mustache grow, maybe. A lot new stuff_ ,” Red signed, his head turned to face Ricky.

Ricky just rolled his eyes, realizing Big Red didn’t know what was eating at his mind. He waved a hand in front of Red’s face and shook his head. “ _Bro_ ,” Ricky signed by pumping his head on his chest and pursing his lips. “ _Meaning Nini. Now we start again_.” He pushed open the door and entered the crowded hallways of East high, their conversation lost amidst the chaos. It was never easy to sign and walk while they were surrounded by hundreds of students.

After a quick trip to each of their lockers, Ricky set off in search of Nini. He felt a big bad about dragging Big Red along with for his romantic endeavors, but he did appreciate the support. As they entered a less populated hallway, Ricky resumed signing.

“ _Me, Nini- Little conversation. Texted. Seem neutral. Bad news, none. She not tell-me, ‘We need-to talk.’ Only ‘hey.’ Good, yeah?_ ” He needed the reassurance that things were as positive as he was making them out to be.

Big Red didn’t look as optimistic, however. He made a face and shrugged slightly. “ _Summer, it unknown. ‘Hey’ meaning lot-of things, maybe. I don’t know. You not-know, same._ ”

Ricky just continued to smile, not letting Big Red’s words get to him. “ _Good, I think,_ ” he signed, even though Big Red was no longer looking at him.

It took Ricky a few minutes of walking up and down the halls before he spotted Nini. She was chatting with Kourtney and grinning, which was a good sign. She seemed to be in a positive mood. He watched their mouths moving as he approached the pair. When it looked like Kourtney had finished speaking, he cut in between them with a wave of his hand, not noticing he was interrupting Nini.

“ _Hey- how-are you?_ ” he signed, nodding at both of the girls. Kourtney said something to Nini but her head was turned slightly so Ricky couldn’t make out what she had said.

Ricky continued to smile, and looked down at Nini, expecting her to be smiling as well. Rather, the girl looked shocked and slowly closed her locking before fully facing Ricky. She seemed a bit nervous, and stood there motionlessly for a second while Ricky noticed Red greeting the girls verbally. Nini responded with a “Hey,” before biting her lip.

“ _We talk?_ ” she signed with a pair of raised eyebrows. Ricky’s smiled slowly faded, as did his chipper demeanor.

“ _At camp. I meet boy_ ,” she signed while avoiding eye-contact. “ _Not expected—_ ”

Ricky cut her off. “ _Hold on. You joke?_ ” he signed, raising his eyebrows.

“ _Stop- I talk now,_ ” Nini signed. Kourtney commented something, but Ricky’s eyes were only focused on Nini.

“ _At camp, I meet boy_ ,” Nini repeated. “ _Not expected. It happen. He MUSIC MAN, I MARIANE librarian. Called SHOWMANCE_.”

Big Red signed something from behind Ricky, but once again he didn’t see it.

“ _You serious? You not joke?_ ” he asked, frowning somewhat sadly.

“ _I’m not_ ,” Nini said as she shook her head. Ricky looked away and Nini waved her hand in his face. “ _Ricky. You know, past you do...Not do_.” Nini let out a groan, and Ricky felt his heart drop.

His mind was brought to the middle of the summer. Things were great- they were spending every day together to soak up the time they had together before Nini left for theater camp. Ricky couldn’t help but be slightly jealous. He loved knowing everything he could about Nini, from her favorite Starbucks drink to her thoughts about current social movements. Yet the biggest part of Nini was something she couldn’t really share with him. While Ricky had some respect for musical theater, he couldn’t truly enjoy it, not in the way hearing people could.

Nini had tried to be inclusive when she began to participate in theatrical productions, dating back to when they were in elementary school. Whenever the school put on a play or a musical, she would print out a copy of the script for Ricky so he could follow along in the audience when he went to watch her shows. It was pretty impossible to read a script while simultaneously watching a play occur, as that required a lot of head movement, but Ricky did his best to support Nini.

He would watch her play piano or the ukulele and sing songs, while reading the lyrics she had written. Ricky would always profusely compliment her lyrics, pointing out what words he liked. But he could never really compliment her music. It was something he felt physically disconnected from.

As they got older, Nini would do her best to find videos of sign interpreted productions, and even once took him to see a nearby theater’s production of Guys and Dolls that had a one-night performance with an interpreter on site. However, it was very hard to pay attention to what the interpreter was signing and the action occurring on stage. His eyes would miss key moments as they switched back and forth from the interpreter to the actors, and by the end of the musical, Ricky had no idea what the majority of the plot was even about.

Due to irritation, or maybe just the lack of understanding he had for music, Ricky took to actively disliking musicals. Part of Ricky was sad to find himself left of the conversation around Nini’s favorite hobby, but the other part of him was glad to finally not have to deal with the internal resentment he felt at being left out of the hearing community.

So Ricky was doing his best to distance himself from the things that would be occurring at Nini’s camp. He did his best to not be jealous of the other kids at camp who got to share this passion with her; kids who had some secret knowledge that he, as a Deaf kid, would never truly understand. He convinced himself he wasn’t being left out. By Nini or by the hearing world.

Three days before Nini left for camp, she told Ricky to open up his Instagram and he found that he had been tagged in a video of Nini signing a song. To him.

Only she wasn’t just singing. She was simultaneously signing her song, in translated ASL. For once, Ricky was able to watch Nini perform music while understanding what was occurring. Not only was Nini signing, but she was acting and emoting and Ricky felt as close as he had ever been to enjoying music.

That video opened up all sorts of hidden channels in Ricky. He was touched, of course. But he was also distraught. To have someone like Nini, who was hearing but sought to understand and bask in the glory of Deaf culture, but to be fundamentally unable to understand the Deaf experience, do something like this for him?

She was attempting to bridge Ricky’s gap between the two worlds. And it was nerve-wracking for him.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Nini had to go and drop the L-word on him. Through video no less.

Love wasn’t something Ricky was familiar with. Not with his parents, certainly.

After watching the video, Ricky was struggling to piece together a coherent sentence as he suggested they take a break. He was scared, simple as that. He wasn’t ready for something like this.

But Ricky not returning the L-word, and suggesting they needed to take a break, had left Nini heartbroken and upset. She didn’t seem to understand that it wasn’t that Ricky didn’t love her, not at all. She didn’t understand his internal struggle with the idea of giving away love and being loved himself.

And it seemed that Nini’s heartbreak had turned into anger, if the look on her face was anything to go by.

Ricky lifted his hands up to sign a response to Nini’s confession of dating another boy, but he noticed all the students surrounding him lifting up their heads and focusing their attention on the loudspeakers. Ricky had no idea what was being announced, but kids around them had all begun to turn and walk down the halls in the same direction.

Ricky shook his head, wanting to get back to their conversation. “ _That truth, can’t,_ ” he signed. “ _We together long time. You leave me? Go with show punk- you meet long ago not. At camp._ ” He shook his head, refusing to process this.

“ _You break up, you._ ”

“ _Not separation, only break,_ ” he signed. He noticed several students walking by staring at them, but for once he didn’t care as they ogled at him signing.

“ _Ricky, sorry. Separation, now._ ” Nini shook her head once more and Kourtney said something behind her, failing to sign along. Big Red signed something from behind Ricky, deliberately dramatizing his signs to point out Kourtney’s lack of inclusive conversation. But Kourtney didn’t seem to get his point and continued to speak without interpreting, leaving Ricky standing still in confusion. Nini gently pushed Kourtney away, and soon, the two girls were gone.

Ricky continued to stand still. His entire day had been ruined. This was beyond a nightmare.


	2. The Auditions: The Lead

Most of the morning went by without anything too interesting happening. There was a brief assembly before first period, which Ricky missed the majority of because his interpreter, Michael, had been late. His first few classes of the day were both uninteresting, as the teachers were mainly going over the syllabus, and irritating as none of his teachers were familiar with a Deaf student being in their class yet. They mainly spoke to Michael rather than to Ricky, leaving Ricky feeling ignored and left out. Needless to say, he was in a bit of a bad mood by lunchtime, and seeing Nini with her new boyfriend certainly didn’t help. 

As Big Red and Ricky sat together at lunch, Red waved a hand in front of Ricky’s face. “ _Wow. You see that?_ ” he signed, motioning over to Nini and EJ Caswell. 

“ _I see_ ,” Ricky signed with a sigh, lips turned in a frown. “ _I see, I hate._ ”

Big Red shook his head in disbelief. “Nini date _EJ CASWELL. I not believe._ ”

“ _I know. My eyes see,_ ” Ricky replied, slightly annoyed. He wanted to drop the topic altogether. 

Big Red reached over a stole a fry from Ricky’s plate, stuffing it into his mouth before signing. “ _EJ, he CO-captain water POLO team. Senior class treasurer._ ” Ricky nodded along and hung his head down as Big Red listed off all of EJ’s notable qualities, as if he didn’t already know them. 

Big Red tapped Ricky’s shoulder, and Ricky looked back up. “ _Crazy, boy Nini meet at camp, here at our school. Chance how much?_ ” He looked at Ricky with wide eyes. 

“ _Chance high, clearly._ ” Ricky made a face and looked back down at his food. Red seemed to notice that Ricky was a bit upset, and reached over to squeeze his friend’s shoulder. 

“ _Sorry. You do what?_ ” Red signed. Ricky shrugged, lips pursed. 

“ _I don’t know…Before, I need advice, I go-to Nini. Can’t now. She over-there, on honeymoon._ ” Ricky looked over at his ex, watching as she smiled while EJ swung her around him his arms. That was all that Ricky could take, and he got up quite abruptly, leaving his full lunch tray on the table as he exited the cafeteria. 

* * *

The rest of Ricky’s day carried on; he only had one class with Big Red, one with Nini, and one with Kourtney. It wouldn’t have been so bad, if Nini and Kourtney were willing to talk to him. Seeing as no one else in the school knew ASL, he spent most of the day feeling completely and utterly alone. By the end of the day, Ricky was actually glad to go home. His mom was still out of town, sure, but his dad would be home. At least they could talk to each other. 

When Mike got home from work, however, his mind seemed to be elsewhere. He didn’t seem to be paying much attention to Ricky as the teen told him about his day. Instead, he was fumbling around with their instapot, unable to get it to work correctly. He was grumbling about verbally, and Ricky couldn’t tell what he was saying. He waved a hand in front of his dad and raised an eyebrow.

“ _Not working. Wrong, I don’t know what,_ ” Mike signed, shaking his head. 

“ _Call mom?_ ” Ricky suggested, before moving over to the fridge to grab something to drink. He gazed at the lack of food options in there before looking back over at his dad, who was still grumbling. He waved a hand over at his dad once again and repeated the same phrase he signed before. “ _Call mom._ ”

Mike shook his head. “ _No. I not bother her._ ” 

Ricky closed the fridge and made a face. “ _Chicago, time 9 o’clock. Mom not at meeting._ ” Mike didn’t seem to be looking at him, so Ricky let out an audible grunt. “ _I call mom, now._ ” He went to reach into his pocket to grab his phone when Mike reached over and grabbed his arm. 

“Don’t,” he said, before letting go. “ _Your mom, she not want talk with me. Okay?_ ”

Something about his father’s expression made Ricky feel uneasy, and he furrowed his brow. “ _What?_ ”

Mike signed. “ _She…need a-few days, thinking._ ” 

Ricky shook his head. “ _Think? Think what?_ ”

Mike reached over and pat Ricky on the shoulder. “ _Not worry. Not you, okay? Will-be fine._ ”

Ricky bit his lip, thinking back to the past couple months—no, years—leading up to this. He didn’t even really know when the fighting between his parents began. Nini had been the one who brought it up, mentioning that his parents were always yelling while they were on FaceTime, something Ricky couldn’t hear or notice for himself. That had been during his freshman year, and Ricky had become more aware of his parents’ fighting as time went on. Despite this, he still held onto a childish hope that things would be okay. 

Ricky just let his head fall and leaned against the counter as Mike went back to attempting to cook dinner. His head was swarming with thoughts, so he opened up Instagram on his phone to distract himself. However, one of the first posts he saw was from Nini. The photo was of her with EJ, with the words “Troy” and “Gabriella” along with arrows pointing to each of their faces. Confused, Ricky scrolled down to the caption. From what he understood, the school’s fall musical was going to be High School Musical. She and EJ seemed to be hoping to play leads opposite each other, and Nini stated that she couldn’t wait to get closer to her boyfriend during the show. 

Ricky’s mind began to spiral once more, and he didn’t even notice his dad signing him a question as he was already halfway out the kitchen door. 

* * *

Ricky went to Big Red’s house, obviously. He barged in and went straight to Red’s basement room, where he began to tell all of his frustrations to his friend. He was jealous, that much was obvious. But it went deeper than that. It hurt knowing that Nini was so eager to be with a hearing boy who could share her passion for music and theater with. He wanted to be able to do those things with her as well. It wasn’t his fault theater was so unaccessible. Deaf theater companies existed, yes, but they lived in a very low Deaf populated area. 

That was when Ricky was struck with an idea. Sure, theater in his area was lacking in options for members of the Deaf community. But why couldn’t Ricky be the one to open up those doors? Nini had shown him several performances of musicals in ASL before; it wasn’t a new concept. It may not be common, but Ricky could bring it up to the theater teacher. 

“ _Bro, Ricky. No,_ ” Red signed, as Ricky went over his bright idea. 

“ _Crazy, I know. BUT, I capable. I show Nini I understand her passion, same as EJ._ ”

Big Red still looked unconvinced. “ _You told me you hate musicals,_ ” he pointed out. 

“ _I not hate musicals. I not understand. Deaf people understanding music, it hard. BUT I can learn.I try act, I try interpreting song.._ ” Ricky shook his head, a grin on his face. “ _Tomorrow, I audition. OK? Nothing stop me._ ”

Big Red was never one to doubt Ricky’s abilities, but he definitely seemed to think Ricky was just doing this to get the girl. And yeah, that was part of it, but it was more than that. He wanted to prove to himself that he could do this, despite his lack of hearing. 

“ _HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, you know what about?_ ” Big Red asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Ricky shrugged. “ _Yeah, ZAC EFRON dance with basketball?_ ”

Big Red shook his head and went on to explain the actual plot of the movie, which caused Ricky to wonder why he knew so much about it. Ricky waved his hands when Big Red began to ask if Ricky really wanted to do this. 

_“Tomorrow. I audition,_ ” he repeated, a grin forming on his face. Big Red began to sign something, but Ricky was already taking off. He needed to interpret a song, stat. 

* * *

The next day, during the period right before when auditions were being held, Ricky snuck into the library and snatched a copy of High School Musical. He then went to pop it into one of the computers in the lab, wanting to work on his signing alongside the film to make sure his timing was right. At first, he had pressed play without turning the volume off, and got many angry looks from the people around him. Ricky turned the volume off with an embarrassed expression, then skipped around to try and find the song he had interpreted. 

He worked on his signing underneath the desk, a bit too shy to do it while other students were nearby. They always stared when he signed, and it made Ricky feel uneasy, like he was some sort of circus act. 

Ricky had been so caught up in his signing that he didn’t notice the other students getting up when the bell rang. Michael wasn’t with him, so he didn’t even realize the period had ended until nearly fifteen minutes later when Mr. Mazzara, one of the school’s STEM teachers, tapped on his shoulder. Ricky had never actually had Mr. Mazzara as a teacher, but he knew the computer lab was technically a part of his classrooms. 

Mazzara said something, but Ricky didn’t try to speech read his lips. After glancing at the clock and realizing he was already late to auditions, Ricky panicked. He hit the eject button while trying to gather up his things, but found that the disk was not coming out. He looked up at the teacher, and waved a hand at him. 

“ _Sorry,_ ” he signed, and pointed to the disk. Mr. Mazzara spoke once more, and Ricky stepped back at the teacher took over trying to fix the disk drive. Mazzara hit several buttons and tried to click on things with the mouse, but nothing seemed to be happening. Every so often, the teacher would look back at Ricky and say something, but Ricky was paying no attention. All he could think about was the fact that he was late.

After what felt like forever, Ricky waved a hand in front of Mr. Mazzara’s face. “ _Sorry, I need to go to audition. HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. I practice hard and can’t miss it—”_ He signed quite fast, as he knew that always made hearing people who didn’t know ASL feel uncomfortable. Anything to let the teacher let him free. It worked, as Mr. Mazzara didn’t stop Ricky from rushing out of the computer lab. 

He pretty much ran all the way to the auditorium, and he was well aware of the stares he got when he entered the auditorium through the doors in the back. He ran up to the front of the room where the teacher was sitting, and slowed to a stop in front of her. He took a minute to catch his breath and noticed that Nini was on stage. He felt a bit guilty, wondering if he had interrupted her. Before he could say anything, though, the teacher began talking. 

“We’re all set on Troys, we’re low on Chads. You can read after the Gabriellas.”

Ricky just stared at her, unsure what she had said. He hadn’t told Michael he was auditioning, so here he was, stuck without an interpreter. 

“ _I audition TROY. I interpret song, title ‘START OF_ — _”_ Ricky stopped signing when he realized there was no point. The teacher had no clue what he was saying. He dropped his hands to his sides and hung his head down, when he felt someone tapping his shoulder. Big Red, thank god. 

“Uh- he said he wants to audition for Troy. He interpreted a song..” he said, signing as he spoke so Ricky could understand. The teacher looked a bit puzzled. 

“Interpreted..?” she asked. 

“He translated a song-“ Ricky waved his hand in front of Big Red, wanting to explain himself. 

“ _I’m Deaf, I interpreted ‘START OF SOMETHING NEW’ into ASL. I think I can play Troy, he be Deaf character. Someone talks and sings his lines, I sign, maybe?_ ” Ricky didn’t care that the rest of the students were all ogling at him as he signed, he had to get his point across. 

“Uh- he said, I’m Deaf, I interpreted the song ‘Start of Something New’ into ASL. I think I can play Troy and have him be a Deaf character. Uh…maybe someone else can say his lines and sing his songs while I sign,” Red interpreted for the teacher. 

The teacher raised her eyebrows at this, but soon smile. “Like Deaf West’s Spring Awakening?” she asked, and Red nodded while interpreting for Ricky. 

“I love it—” the teacher said. “Sweetie, you sit down while Nini finished up, okay?”

Ricky nodded once Red had translated for him, and then signed a small ‘thank you’ at his friend before going to sit down. 

Nini went on to continue her audition, when the teacher knocked over her cup of coffee and the lights went out. Ricky had no clue what she told Nini, but he saw Nini shake her head and begin to sing while she was onstage, despite the technical mishap. 

Ricky watched Nini sing, squinting to try and make out her facial expressions. He loved watching her face while she sang- he might not be able to hear her voice, but he honestly thought the emotions she portrayed were better than any sound she might be making. In a heat of the moment decision, Ricky decided that everyone needed to see her facial expressions as well. 

Ricky pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight before stepping up to the stage and shining the light at Nini. Nini looked baffled for a moment, but carried on singing. Ricky stood there dnd grinned, until he noticed EJ standing beside him, holding up his phone’s flashlight as well. Ricky made a sour face, but then refocused his attention on Nini. This was her moment, after all. 

Moments after Nini finished her song, the lights went back on. Ricky sheepishly put his phone away and went back to his seat while the teacher commented on Nini’s performance. He avoided eye contact with Nini, hoping he hadn’t upset her by going up on stage like that. 

A minute lateer, somebody waved a hand in Ricky’s face. He looked and saw that the teacher was pointing to him and then to the stage. It was his turn. 

When Ricky got up to the stage, he looked at Nini before he began signing. “ _You play song, and nod when singing starts?"_ Big Red interpreted this request to the teacher, who pulled up the audio with vocals for Ricky. Right before the first line began, she nodded at Ricky. 

Ricky went ahead and began to sign, his hands going through the memorized movements as the song played along. He had practiced over and over so many times that he was able to stay on beat, even without being able to see what actions were occurring in the movie. He let his arms and hands loosen up, and filled up the space around him with signs as he got deeper into the song. He had never signed like this before. And he loved it. His body moved along to the signs as if he were dancing, and his facial expressions matched his signing as well. It was really a performance. 

Even though the other auditions only consisted of 16 bars of the song, the teacher let Ricky go through the whole song, and she grinned the whole time. When he finished, he saw the other theater students in the audience clapping, while Big Red shook his fingers. Nini, however, was sitting there with tight lips. Ricky glanced at her, then looked away. He couldn’t tell what she thought of all of this. 

* * *

After the rest of the auditions finished, Ricky walked into the hall outside of the auditorium with Big Red. He was still full of adrenaline from his audition, and couldn’t stop smiling. His smile faded when Nini stormed into the hallway, though. She ran up to Ricky and tapped on his shoulder. 

“ _You here, why?_ ” she signed, frowning. 

“ _I audition,_ ” he signed in returned, having thought that was obvious. 

“ _You hate musicals. You tell me,_ ” Nini signed, seeming both confused and angry. 

“ _I not hate musicals. Before, I not understand. BUT, I want to understand. I new person._ ” He was genuine in saying this. 

“ _OK. Listen. Me, before, my heart broken. Then, I uncover inside passion. You not ruin my inside passion. You here, you confuse me._ ”

Ricky shook his head. “ _I want understand your inside passion. Now, I here. I’m learning._ ” Ricky would have continued on, but a student, the one who had been sitting by the theater teacher, entered the hallway with a trail of other students behind him. The student, Carlos, was holding a sheet of paper and went to tack it up onto a bulletin board. Kourtney said something to Nini and pulled her over. It seemed that whatever Carlos had, everyone wanted to see it. 

“ _CAST list,_ ” Big Red signed, and Ricky nodded in understanding. Ricky stood back as everyone else flocked around the list, some students grinning and others frowning as they read from it. 

Slowly, Ricky walked over, wondering if his hard work had paid off or if the teacher had thought the idea of casting a Deaf boy as the lead was insane. As he stepped closer, Ricky noticed the other students all glancing in his direction. With a squint, Ricky read the names and saw his own, listed right at the top of the page. He had gotten the part. He was going to be Troy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Not sure if anyone else besides myself actually cares for this AU, but as my two favorite things are Deaf culture/ASL and musicals, I'm really enjoying writing it!


	3. The Read-Through: The First Day

To say Ricky was nervous about the first day of rehearsals was an understatement. Although, he wasn’t nervous for the reasons one might think. He wasn’t worried about being unable to communicate with nearly all the other cast members or his teacher. He wasn’t worried about the fact that he was going to have to interpret every single one of his lines and songs. He wasn’t even worried about the fact that people were likely going to stare at him and treat him as either a small child or a foreign object. No, he was worried because he was going to be acting alongside Nini. And EJ.

Nini, to no one’s surprise (except maybe that Sophomore, Gina) scored the role of Gabriella. And seeing as the show revolved around Gabriella and Troy falling in love with each other (and not Troy falling in love with a basketball, as Ricky had so previously thought) he was going to be spending even more time with Nini than he had originally anticipated. He was also going to be acting alongside EJ, who had been cast of Troy’s “voice.” Meaning, Nini would be spending ample time with her ex-boyfriend and her current boyfriend. Thus, Ricky spent a solid five minutes in the boy’s bathroom testing out different colognes prior to arriving at rehearsals. He had to up his game if he was going to be beside EJ all afternoon. 

When he did walk in, he made sure to hold his head up high and smile politely at the students he passed by. These people weren’t going to be strangers anymore, so Ricky figured he better get used to being around them, even if it meant he was going to have to attempt to speech read and rely on Big Red interpreting for him. While the school was technically supposed to provide an interpreter for Ricky for after school activities, they had yet to find someone with afternoon and evening availabilities, and thus Red agreed to help Ricky out in the meantime. 

Almost immediately after walking in, Ricky was pulled aside by the theater teacher, Ms. Jenn. She guided him over to the corner of the classroom where EJ and Nini were also standing. She called Big Red over as well, and once everyone was there she began to speak. 

“So, as you know we are going to be making some big changes to the original musical, which I think will be completely groundbreaking in the realm of high school theater,” she paused, making sure Red had interpreted everything for Ricky before carrying on. “EJ, as Troy’s voice and other half, I want to make sure you and Ricky develop a sort of flow with each other. I want you guys to sing and sign in synch. You two will have to practice ten times harder than everyone else here.”

Well, that was a bit overwhelming to hear. Maybe not to EJ, who had been cast as leading roles since kindergarten. But Ricky had never been on stage ever.

Ms. Jenn turned to face Ricky, speaking to him directly even though Ricky’s eyes were focused on Red’s signing rather than her face. Ricky really appreciated this; too often, people spoke to whomever was interpreting for him rather than to _him_. 

“Ricky, you’re going to have to work to interpret Troy’s lines and songs into ASL. Maybe we can even incorporate some ASL in other cast member’s lines, too. Does anyone else in the cast know ASL?” Ricky bit his lip. Nini did, obviously. From their first day of kindergarten, after Nini was intrigued by how Ricky communicated with his aide, she had been determined to become fluent in ASL. And she very much was fluent now- she could sign better than either of his parents and any of his other friends. But Ricky wasn’t sure how willing Nini was to speak to him. 

“Nini’s an awesome signer— better than me,” Big Red said, unaware of the tension between the two. He interpreted as he spoke, a grin on his face. 

“Oh my god, that is amazing!” Ms. Jenn said; Ricky had no doubt that she was shouting based on the shape of her mouth. “Imagine- Gabriella going from not knowing Troy and not knowing any sign language to being connected to Troy and signing alongside him. Nini, we _must_ work this into the show. The layers, the depth it will add. I can already see it.” 

Ricky looked over at Nini after Big Red finished interpreting, trying to gauge her reaction. She was smiling, but her lips were tight. 

“Yeah- we can definitely do that, Ms. Jenn,” she said. She failed to sign as she spoke, which hurt Ricky. 

Ms. Jenn gave Ricky and Nini loving pats on the shoulder before she took off to the center of the room. She must have called everyone to sit down at their assigned seats, as everyone was making their way there as well. Ricky looked at Nini one more time, but she was already walking away, EJ at her side. 

Ricky slowly trudged over to his desk, which was right in between both Nini and EJ. Big Red had been assigned a seat across from Ricky. Often times, his teachers tried to have his interpreter sit right beside him, which made no sense as it meant Ricky would have to crane his neck to the side to see what he was signing. Ricky had to smile slightly at Ms. Jenn. She may be hearing, but the teacher was clearly doing her best to be inclusive and supportive of Ricky. 

Ms. Jenn began their rehearsal with a little motivational speech, and then had everyone hold hands and close their eyes. Ricky instantly went to grab onto Nini’s hand, but was much more hesitant when it came to holding EJ’s. Talk about awkward. He also kept his eyes open, despite almost everyone else having theirs’ closed. He needed to see what was going on. 

When Ricky saw Ms. Jenn begin to sing, in what could have only been the most dramatic way as possible, Ricky had to fight back the urge to both cringe and laugh. Ricky looked over at Nini, wondering if she would find this amusing as well, but as soon as they made eye contact Nini pulled her hand away. Dejected, Ricky pulled his hand away from EJ’s and hung his head down.

Following this…odd introduction, Ms. Jenn began to lead the cast in some vocal warmups. Ricky obviously didn’t participate in these, so instead he took out a highlighter and began to highlight all of his lines in preparation of the read-through, already thinking of how he would interpret all of them. 

When they finally began the read-through, Ricky found himself pretty bored. EJ was reading Troy’s lines aloud, but Ricky had yet get any of the lines interpreted past the first page. So he mostly sat and observed during this part of rehearsal as well. As Big Red didn’t need to interpret every single line for Ricky, seeing as they were written right in front of him, Red was gifted with the task of orally reading all of the stage directions. Ricky might have not been able to hear his best friend, but he could tell based on everyone’s expressions that he was struggling. Reading had never been Red’s strong suit.

After reading through the first act, Ms. Jenn announced a break. Ricky got up to stretch his legs and walked over to a corner of the room, standing beside Big Red. Ricky pulled out his phone, needing a bit of a mindless break. He scrolled through Instagram for a bit, and let out a silent laugh when he came across a meme he just had to send to Nini. He saved the photo to his gallery and then sent it to Nini, along with the caption ‘Me trying to understand what everyone was saying during the read through.’ 

He glanced over in Nini’s direction when he saw her take out her phone. She looked at the screen and then smiled, her mouth slightly open. She replied with a laughing emoji before shoving her phone back into her pocket and resuming her conversation with EJ. 

A laughing emoji. That was good. That was progress. Ricky grinned. 

* * *

The following day, Ricky arrived early to school. Ms. Jenn had stated that they needed a 1 hour rehearsal in the auditorium before school. Unfortunately, Big Red wasn’t able to get there that early. Ricky felt relieved when he saw Nini sitting on stage when he walked in. At least she could interpret for him— she wasn’t completely heartless, she wouldn’t leave him being unable to communicate. However, Ricky also noticed that she was the only cast member there. 

“ _We do-do what? Where more people?_ ” he signed at Nini, brows furrowed. Nini looked just as confused, and walked over to Ms. Jenn. Ricky followed behind her. 

Ms. Jenn, who was seated beside Carlos, looked up from her notes and grinned. “Great- let’s get started,” she said. Ricky looked at Nini, assuming she would interpret, but instead the girl was speaking to Ms. Jenn. 

“Wait- it’s just the two of us?” she asked. Ms. Jenn nodded, while Ricky waved his hand lightly in front of Nini’s face. 

“ _What happen?_ ” he signed. Nini pursed her lips and signed back, 

“ _We practice now, only us._ ” 

Ricky looked up as Ms. Jenn held out a piece of paper to each of them. “We’re delving into page 97,” she said. 

Nini haphazardly signed, “Book p _age 97,_ ” to Ricky before looking at the sheet of paper. 

Ricky took his sheet of paper and glanced at it. “ _This last page?_ ” he asked. No one was looking at him though, so his question went unanswered. 

“You wanna rehears this? It’s not even a scene, it’s just one line,” Nini said. Ricky noticed Ms. Jenn looking at Nini, so he looked over and saw her lips moving. He furrowed his brow, unsure what she had said. 

Ricky looked back down at his paper, noticing that there was only one line. “ _Practice 1 sentence, why?_ ” he signed, but once again, Nini failed to interpret for him. 

Ms. Jenn spoke again next, and whatever she said was apparently shocking because Nini looked appalled. Ricky looked around, wanting to shout at them because he had no clue what was going on. His eyes ended up landing at Carlos, who seemed to sense the boy’s confusion. Carlos point at Ricky, and then at Nini. He then puckered up his lips and brought his two hands together. He was technically signing _more_ , but with the kissy-face, Ricky was able to understand what was happening. He and Nini were supposed to kiss. 

“ _Kiss? No kiss in movie, only hug,_ ” Ricky signed. Nini looked at him this time, finally, and nodded. 

“Yeah- Ricky said there’s no kiss in the movie, just a hug,”

Ms. Jenn shook her head and began to speak. “The kiss ended up on the cutting room floor. Little racy for its time.” Nini rolled her eyes and looked at Ricky, signing,

“ _She say kiss in movie, cut. She crazy._ ”

Nini let out a huff and shook her head. She said something to Ms. Jenn before going over to grab her bag and storming out. Ms. Jenn then said something directed at Ricky before taking off as well. Ricky stood there. _What just happened?_

Ricky would have probably stood there for a long time, but he noticed Carlos waving his hand. “Hey. Uh- She, Nini—” he pointed in the direction Nini had walked over. “—is going to talk to Ms. Jenn. Uh- _talk. Teacher_.” Ricky’s eyes widened as Carlos attempted to use two words in ASL. 

“ _OK,_ ” he signed back. 

“You can go. Uh- _you finish._ After school, we’ll do dance rehearsals. _School_ _finish_. _Dance.”_

Ricky nodded, and gave Carlos a small smile. 

Carlos let out a laugh. “ _Sorry, I sign_ , uh, bad. I tried to learn a few signs this morning. For you.” 

Ricky may have not caught every word Carlos said, but he understood. “ _Thank you. You good._ ” He bit his lip, then gave Carlos one last smile before he gathered up his things and took off. 

That certainly wasn’t the best way to end rehearsal, but it wasn’t the worst, either. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments really make my day :)


	4. The Read Through: The Dance

After school, Ricky arrived at rehearsals right on time. Early, actually. Big Red hadn’t arrived yet, nor had most of the cast. Carlos was there, of course, so Ricky gave a wave at the sophomore and walked over. Carlos had been looking at some notes on a clipboard, but instantly grinned when he saw Ricky.

“ _Hey. Dance, you ready?”_ he signed. Ricky grimaced and shrugged. Dancing was another thing he didn’t quite understand, as he could hear the rhythm of the music he was dancing to. 

“ _I ready. BUT, I not dance good. Need you help me,_ ” he signed, even though he knew Carlos wouldn’t understand everything. He made sure to move his lips along to the English equivalent of the words he signed to help Carlos. 

“Don’t worry. I’m here to _help you_ ,” Carlos said. He seemed to be enunciating extra to compensate for not knowing the signs for most of what he had said. Ricky smiled but shook his head. He took out his phone and typed out,

‘Just speak normally. Don’t over enunciate. Makes it harder for me to understand.’

Carlos nodded and gave him a thumbs up, before waving over at Nini who had just entered the auditorium. Big Red came in shortly after, and headed over to Ricky. 

“Okay, now that you two are here, we can _start_ ,” Carlos said. Big Red interpreted for Ricky as Carlos went over what they would be practicing first. Ricky figured they’d start with the first song, but in a similar fashion to Ms. Jenn that morning, Carlos announced they were going to work on the curtain call. 

“ _I confused. Show over, still dance why_?” he signed, while Red spoke for him. Nini rolled her eyes at Ricky’s question. It didn’t go unnoticed that she was just listening to Red’s interpretation rather than looking at Ricky’s signing. 

“It’s a curtain call,” Carlos explained. “You’re the last two to come out. We want to bring the audience to their feet.” Big Red interpreted this, trying to translate the last expression. He ended up signing “ _Dance make audience use legs_.” Ricky chuckled at that. 

Carlos continued to insist they begin practicing, but Ricky was still reluctant to start. 

“ _Why learn dance. We not learn show yet,_ ” he signed. 

Carlos shook his head. “ _Start with_ hardest _dance_ that takes the longest to learn first,” he said. “It’s in the ‘Big Book of Broadway’ page 374.” As he said that last thing, another sophomore, Gina, came over and gave Carlos a high five. Their knowledge for theater was a bit intimidating to Ricky. 

Carlos then went on to begin practicing the curtain call. It seemed most of the ensemble already knew their dance, which made Ricky even more overwhelmed. It was only the second day of rehearsals- how did they already know all of this?

Carlos went over the dance Ricky and Nini would be doing together at the end of the song. Carlos went over it quickly, acting as if everything he was instructing them to do was simple. Nini caught on pretty quickly, and she wasn’t the world’s best dancer, so these moves must be basic. Still, Ricky couldn’t get the timing right. There was a specific beat they were supposed to start on, but being unable to hear meant Ricky was guessing when he should go. 

As they ran through it for what felt like the hundredth time, Ricky once again messed up on the timing. He was a few counts behind Nini, and after a while he gave up and just walked in a jazz square with a sheepish smile.

“ _Do-do, I can’t,”_ he signed. Nini was unamused. “ _Sorry,_ ” he signed at Carlos. 

“What is he doing?” Ricky hadn’t realized Nini was speaking until he turned to look at her. He frowned and waved a hand at her. 

“ _You talk him, why? I here_ ,” he signed. 

“ _You not here. No good reason you here_ ,” she signed back. 

“ _You mean what?_ ”

“ _You know. You hate musicals. You do this to bother, be here with me._ ”

Everyone in the room was staring at them by now. Red obviously didn’t interpret their scuffle to the whole cast, meaning they were angrily signing at each other with no one else understanding what they were saying. 

Suddenly, Carlos was in between them. 

“Okay, back to the _dance, please_ ,” he told them. 

Nini wasn’t finished though. She turned back to Ricky and signed, “ _You wear cologne? Smells weird. Too much._ ”

“ _Hey- THROB you love_ ,” Ricky protested. 

Nini shook her head. “ _AND you waste time, you mock musical. We serious, musical everyone passion._ ”

Carlos shouted something out then, and the cast began to slowly filter out of the room. Ricky looked for Red, and he signed, “ _CARLOS said 5 minute break._ ”

Ricky was somewhat glad; he hated everyone staring at him as he and Nini signed. He walked over to Nini, not finished with their conversation. She was taking a drink and not looking at him, so Ricky waved his hand. 

“ _This musical, I serious._ ”

“ _You never serious. Never. You sail by. You not make commitment, you joke, you…hole opens, you go inside, shut hole._ ” Ricky bit his lip. 

“ _Not true_ ,” he signed back. “ _Nini- start summer, I not ready to say-to-you. BUT now, I audition-“_

“ _You audition because I met new boy. You want go-back tenth grade. I not want. Summer happen, I change. If you care, you let different person to-be TROY. Who? Person really can be TROY._ ” 

Ricky frowned as Nini went back to looking away from him. He knew what that implication meant. Someone who who actually sing and recite lines. 

Carlos came over then and said something. Red was there next to Carlos, interpreting, but Ricky didn’t look at him. Instead, he grabbed his backpack and walked towards the door. He passed by Ms. Jenn on his way out as she said something to him. Ricky turned slightly and pointed to his ear.

“No’ -ear -ou,” he said verbally, leaving the room.

Maybe Nini was right. He couldn’t really do this. 

* * *

Big Red had followed Ricky out of the building. Ricky had to hand it to him, he was really a good friend. 

He caught up with Ricky and waved a hand. “ _Bro, Nini say what? You leave why?_ ”

Ricky looked at Red, struggling to sign as he was holding his board and helmet. He set his board on the ground and put his helmet on before he began to answer Red. 

“ _Me become TROY, bad idea. Mistake. Now, Nini and me, worse.”_

Ricky was about to step onto his board and take off when Red put a hand on his shoulder. Carlos had run out of the building and was running over to them. 

“Ms. Jenn wants everyone back in the room,” he said, followed by Red quickly signing, “ _Teacher want you at class._ ”

Ricky shook his head. “ _Tell teacher I finish. I can’t dance. I Deaf. I not hear music, don’t-know start when. I can’t._ ” 

When Big Red translated what he said, Carlos’ face softened. “ _No._ You can do it, Ricky. We can figure out how to make this work.”

Ricky half paid attention to Red’s interpretation, and shook his head again before Red was even finished. 

“ _Nini, she right. Me, I waste space. Me on stage, wrong.”_

_“_ That’s _not_ true,” Carlos said. 

“ _No. Truth. Me on stage, you not want. Nini, she better. She sing, she dance, she talk. Fit, I not.”_ Before Big Red had a chance to translate for Carlos, Ricky had already taken off on his board. 

Ricky had skated halfway down the school sidewalk when Big Red caught up to him. He skated slowly alongside Ricky and signed, “ _My home?_ ”

Ricky sighed and didn’t reply. 

“ _Your home?_ ” Red then signed. Ricky quickly shook his head. 

“ _No. My home, weird. Parents…not good._ ”

Red slowed down a bit more, making Ricky slow down as well. They eventually got off their boards so they could sign without worrying about losing their balance.

“ _Your mom, she home yet?_ ” Ricky shook his head and looked down. 

“ _No. Not yet. She in Chicago, not working, I think_.” 

Big Red frowned. “ _She in Chicago, why_?”

“ _Chicago have my dad, not._ ” 

Red went to sign something but Ricky shook his head. _“Fine. I need be alone. OK?”_ Ricky waited for Red to nod before he hopped back on his board, this time skating off without being followed. 

* * *

Ricky spent most of the afternoon skating around. He did a few laps around the neighborhood, did his homework at the library. He spent several hours there, and by the time it was closing he decided to go to the skate park. Anything to keep him from going home. As he headed down the stairs to go find a place to put his stuff down, he noticed Gina sitting nearby with her headphones in. Ricky didn’t expect her to acknowledge him, but as soon as Gina spotted him she eagerly waved him over. 

“ _Hey,_ ” she greeted him, smiling. 

Ricky waved back. He smiled awkwardly, not sure how they could really chat. “ _You here do-do what?”_ he signed, while mouthing the words. 

“Babysitting. _Watch kid,_ ” Gina signed half of her response, and then pointed off in the general direction of the skate park. 

Ricky smiled slightly. It was weird; never before had classmates gone out of their way to learn ASL just so they could talk to him. 

“ _Hey. You finish show, true?_ ” Gina signed. Ricky shrugged, then nodded a bit. 

“That sucks. Having you there made the show 100 times better,” she said. Ricky couldn’t quite understand what she said, and Gina noticed. She took out her phone and typed into her notes app before showing Ricky. 

‘Having you there made the show 100 times better. It’s so cool that you’re not letting anything hold you back. It adds a lot off depth to the show. And it makes you a real theater kid.’

Ricky read over the note and furrowed his brow. Why would she care? She should have been happy he was gone. Him being there was making everything 100 times harder, not better. Ricky gently pushed the phone back towards Gina and took off his jacket, setting it down alongside his backpack. 

Gina frowned and typed something else before she shoved her phone into Ricky’s hand. 

‘Seriously. Having you there showed everyone that theater needs to be and can be all inclusive.’

Ricky typed a response this time, making a face. 

‘You need someone who can actually hear music and dance.’

Gina shook her head. She grabbed onto Ricky’s arm with one hand when he turned to move away, typing yet again. This time, she said, 

‘Dancing is about the music inside of you. You’ve just gotta find it. And we’re all here to help you do that.’

Ricky read her screen and bit the inside of his cheek. He stood there for a moment, pausing, before he nodded at Gina and put on his helmet. 

As he skated off, he considered everything Gina had said. 

* * *

That night, after it seemed that Mike was already in bed, Ricky popped in a copy of High School Musical (one he actually checked out from the library this time) and attempted to memorize the choreography for the final dance of the show. 

After doing it several times, Ricky found that if he paid attention to subtle movements of the cast, he could stay on time and on beat. Maybe they could work that into some sort of system in the show? Someone taps their toe, he knows it’s time to turn. Nini touches his shoulder, he knows it’s time to dip. The other dancers, they could be Ricky’s music. 

Ricky was so caught up in the dance that he didn’t notice his dad coming downstairs. It wasn’t until Mike was stepping in front of him and waving that Ricky stopped. 

“ _Ricky, it’s 12 AM. You do-do what? You tell-me tomorrow you have test._ ”

Ricky nodded. “ _Yes. Dance test. Important+ test,_ ” he signed, emphasizing the word important by signing it three times.

Ricky gently pushed his dad out of the way and refocused on the screen, then continued on with the dance. He noticed Mike still standing there and smiled, signing, “ _You want sit? Watch me?_ ” 

Mike smiled and did just that. 

* * *

Ricky danced until nearly two am that night. He dreamed of dance in his sleep. And in the morning, he got to school early and checked just about everywhere until he found Carlos. For some reason, he felt embarrassed and secretive about asking the sophomore to watch him dance.

Thus, he ended up hiding behind a bookshelf and throwing skittles at Carlos, who was seated at a computer. Carlos looked up after the second skittle, looking utterly confused. Ricky waved him over, as if they were making some sort of secret drug deal. 

“ _What_?” Carlos signed once they were both hidden in the corner of the library. 

“ _Watch_ ,” Ricky signed, before he began to go through a series of the dance moves he had memorized last night. He smiled sheepishly when he finished, gauging Carlos’ reaction.

_“_ That was pretty _good_ ,” Carlos said. “I thought you quit. Uh, _leave show_.”

Ricky bit his lip and shook his head. “ _I stay. I want try. I can learn.”_ He stepped over to Carlos and pulled out his phone, where he had written out a note. He showed it to Carlos.

‘Part of choreography needs to be cues for me. I can’t hear music, but I see other dancers. Their movements can be my musical cues.’

Carlos grinned as he read the note. “That’s genius. _I’ll work_ on that. Here, uh, when I tap my shoulder,” he said, miming the action as he spoke. “I tap my shoulder, _you start dance_. Let’s try.”

Ricky grinned and nodded, and eagerly began to dance when Carlos tapped his shoulder. Carlos continued to tap his shoulder on every eighth beat, trying to see if it helped Ricky stay on beat.

Ricky paid no notice to Nini, who was peaking her head around the corner of the bookshelf and watching with a hint of pride on her face. As Ricky finished up the sequence of movements and grinned proudly at Carlos, he noticed her. Ricky's eyes moved to focus on Nini's, and for a moment, they both shared smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading! Already, some little things are changing. Rather than make Gina attempting to get Nini out of the show, she actually wants Ricky to stay, as she admires him not letting anything hold him back. I want them to get an actual friendship lol.


	5. The Wonderstudies

After school that day, Ricky pulled out his phone in an attempt to communicate with Nini. 

The rest of Ricky’s day had actually been great. At rehearsals, they had another run through of lines, this time with Ricky sharing his interpretations to the class. He had translated all of his lines in the first act, and was now working on perfecting the act one songs. Everyone had actually seemed impressed with the way he signed his lines, even though only Red and Nini understood him.

As great as rehearsals had been, he hadn’t had a single spare moment to so much as glance in Nini’s direction. After they had locked eyes in the library that morning, Nini quickly darted off and avoided him the rest of the day. Ricky wasn’t sure how he should take that. 

So, as soon as rehearsals finished, Ricky decided to FaceTime Nini. He remembered the hours they would FaceTime each other back when they were dating; they would talk for hours, and sometimes they would fall asleep with the call still going. But it had been a long time since they had done that. Nowadays, they just stuck to texting. He waited, two rings, four, eight. Eventually, the call ended. Ricky frowned, but didn’t think much of it. Ricky opened up his messenger app instead and typed in her contact information. 

‘Hi Nini. It Ricky, your bud. Sorry I FaceTime you, I know we have not done FaceTime in a while. But I wanted to say that this morning at the library I thought we share a moment together. When we look at each other. I not know how to explain. But it was something. Okay. If you not want me to FaceTime again, you can tell me. I know now might be too soon and feel weird. If it is weird you can ignore and pretend this never happen. Ok? Disappear text. I not know how to say in English. Wish I can sign over texting. If so, I explain myself a lot better. Ok, bye.’

Ricky hit send before he could regret it and then quickly turned his screen off. That was a good message. Casual, friendly. He’d nailed it. 

* * *

Correction: he had not nailed it.

Ricky knew Nini had seen his message. Read 3:08 PM. But he didn’t know what that meant. Was she upset he had texted? When he went up to her the following day at rehearsals, hoping to have a casual chat, Nini didn’t seem too thrilled to see him. 

“ _Hey, Nini. Last night, how-are-you?”_ he signed with a smile. Nini grimaced and quickly signed,

“ _Kind-of not good. Excuse me._ ” And just like that, she was gone. Ricky held out a thumbs up in her direction. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Red, Gina, and EJ glancing in their direction. Even though EJ and Gina didn’t know ASL, they seemed to know what had just been said. 

Well, that answered that. She was not pleased with his text. 

* * *

After school, Ricky immediately went over to Red’s house. Red didn’t seem all that enthusiastic to hear about Ricky’s drama, but he was a good sport. Ricky swayed back and forth on a balance board as he signed to Big Red, who was sprawled across his bed. 

“ _Nini and me, not good now,_ ” he signed, shaking his head. Red just nodded.

“ _Red. I say, not good, very bad.”_

Red gave Ricky a look. “ _It not new information. You broke heart Nini. You be in play with Nini. You bother her, now you text her sad.”_

Ricky got off of the balance board and took a seat and Red’s desk with a sigh. He had a point. “ _I move on? You think, what?”_

“ _Depends. I not, BUT you have something inside?_ ” Ricky raised an eyebrow, not sure what Red meant. “ _Pride,_ ” Red signed. “ _OK. You need-to tell me do-do what._ ”

“ _Be you. More big man. You know?_ ” Red signed, while sitting up on his bed. 

“ _Which one_?” Ricky signed, making a face. 

“ _Simple, more big man.”_ Red scooted over, closer to the edge of his bed and beside Ricky. _“You lead character in show. You under spotlight. Time now, you act more big man_.” Red smiled and threw a bean bag at Ricky’s shoulder. Ricky was unamused. 

He looked down for a moment, then shook his head. “ _You right._ ”

Red bent down to pick up the beanbag, then tossed it to Ricky before he signed, “ _In High School Musical movie, TROY tell teammates, you my boys, here our commotion_.”

Ricky raised an eyebrow. “ _TROY say when?_ ”

Red frowned. “ _Past I saw movie with none sound. I can’t speechread._ ”

Ricky threw the beanbag at Red’s forehead. 

* * *

The next day at rehearsals, Ricky did his best to not think about Nini. That was ruined when Ms. Jenn walked into the room and waved at Ricky. She then called out,

“Troys. I want us to work on the choreography for Getch’a Head in the Game. We really need to work on getting you guys in Synch.” Red jumped up and interpreted for Ricky, then went to stand a bit of a ways away from him and EJ. 

“You are Troy’s voice, EJ. Interpret that as you will; his conscious, the angle or devil on his shoulder. Whatever it may be, you are not just Troy’s shadow, but his guardian. Even Troy’s best friend Chad will never be as close to him as you, EJ,” Ms. Jenn said. She smiled at both Ricky and EJ. “That being said, you both need to develop a relationship. I know you guys aren’t…the closest. But theater is a place of kinship.”

Big Red did his best to interpret everything for Ricky, but Ricky didn’t quite understand what Ms. Jean was saying. 

“EJ,” she said. “Have you attempted to go over some basic ASL, like I suggested? It can not only help with your role, but with being able to connect with your cast mate.”

She seemed to be talking directly to EJ, as if they had already been over this conversation before. 

“Uh, a little bit, yeah,” EJ said. 

He’d never made a single attempt to even talk to Ricky, though. Even the few times they interacted with Nini (or Big Red, or Kourtney) present, and would speak directly to who was interpreting for Ricky rather than to Ricky himself. As if Ricky was developmentally delayed. Like he wasn’t a person. 

So Ricky was a bit surprised EJ said he had been learning a bit of ASL.

“Great. Let’s try to choreography right from the top. EJ, you do your cues on time so that Ricky can follow along with you.”

Ms. Jenn went over to the speaker and pressed a button shortly after Ricky and EJ, and the rest of the cast members in that scene, got into position. Ricky waited for EJ to toss the basketball into his left hand, which would be Ricky’s cue to begin signing. 

Ricky waited, but EJ’s cue was just slightly premature, and their singing and signing did not line up. 

They tried again, but this time EJ was two beats too late. Every time they had to restart, with Ms. Jenn struggling to explain to Ricky how to follow the beat, EJ would flash Ricky a sickly sweet smile. Ricky wanted to strangle him. 

After they finally made it through the first portion of choreography, Ms. Jenn walked over to the boys. 

“Okay, that was…okay. You guys just need to synchronize. Be two halves of a whole. I have an idea- let’s loosen up, pass some energy back and forth. Learn to predict each other’s movements.”

She smiled and instructed EJ and Ricky to toss one of the basketballs back and forth. EJ took the ball first and tossed it to Ricky with a bounce. Ricky made a face and bounced it back. After a few more bounces, Ricky threw the ball directly to EJ’s chest. EJ grunted as he caught it, then threw it back in a similar manner. They continued to throw the ball at each other in a harsh manner, until the ball slipped from Ricky’s hand and hit EJ in the mouth. 

Ricky let his mouth hang open as soon as that happened. He definitely did not mean to physically hurt EJ. Red was too busy gaping at the sight of EJ bleeding on the stage to interpret what Ms. Jenn was saying, but he assumed she was asking EJ if he was okay and instructing people to get paper towels and ice. As EJ was guided out of the room by Ms. Jenn, he shot Ricky a glare. Ricky shied away and hung his head down. 

* * *

After EJ left, Ms. Jenn stepped out of the room for a moment to talked to Mr. Mazzarra. After a few boring minutes of sitting around, Carlos instructed everyone to do some vocal practices. Ricky didn’t have any of the songs fully interpreted yet, not was he even in the song they were rehearsing so Ricky stepped out, hoping to find EJ and apologize. Red was caught up talking to a sophomore girl named Ashlynn, so Ricky left on his own. 

Ricky went to the nearest boy’s bathroom, figuring EJ had gone to clean up in there. Ricky found the senior hunched over the sink, holding a bag of ice to his lip. 

Ricky waited a moment for EJ to acknowledge he was there. Ricky waved, then paused. There wasn’t much he could say, seeing as EJ didn’t know ASL. 

Ricky pointed to EJ, and then up to his own lip. “ _Your lip, how?_ ” Ricky made sure to furrow his eyebrows as he signed how, so EJ would know he was asking a question. 

EJ stared at Ricky for a moment, and then nodded. He looked back at the mirror, and Ricky had to wave his hand to get his attention back. 

“ _I sorry. Wrong happen, I don’t know. Accident, I promise._ ”

EJ squinted his eyes for a moment, then set down the bag of ice. He lifted up his hands. 

“ _I_ don’t want to be a jerk and threaten _you._ Just, stay away from _me_ and _NINI._ OK?”

Ricky was confused. He wanted to be angry that it seemed like EJ was telling Ricky to stay away from Nini. But he was also oddly pleased to see EJ incorporating a few signs and classifying hand gesture as he spoke. He was also looking at Ricky, and not obviously trying to shout so Ricky could _hear_ him. 

Ricky must have looked confused, because EJ narrowed his eyes. “Don’t act like _my_ best _friend,_ or like _her boy friend_. Just- stop acting. _I know_ what _you_ doing _here_. _You not here_ for the _right_ reason. Why can’t _you_ just be real?”

Ricky didn’t quite understand, but he got the gist of it. Stop doing this for Nini. 

“ _I not here FOR Nini only. I here FOR me. I try learn, prove I capable—_ ”

EJ cut him off. “ _Stop_ trying so hard. It’s embarrassing.”

Ricky frowned. “ _You not cut me. I here, I say sorry. I act FOR me, not Nini.”_

“Don’t be _sorry_ to _me_. Be _sorry_ to _NINI_. That thirsty _text_ you sent her, be _sorry_ for that. She doesn’t need to hear all that right now.”

While EJ didn’t use many signs, his fingerspelling of Nini’s name along with his miming of sending a text had to mean he was talking about the text he sent Nini. That hurt. Ricky had thought Nini would know better than to share his texts. He was chronically self-conscious about the way he wrote. He still struggled with English, as it had so many different grammatical rules when compared to ASL. He often messed up verb tenses, forgot articles, and made spelling errors. He hated it because it made him appear incompetent. 

Ricky stood there, silent, as EJ threw his ice pack into the garbage can and exited the bathroom. 

* * *

Rehearsals ended early that day, as they had originally planed on working on scenes where EJ and Ricky were on stage together. EJ couldn’t quite sing with a busted lip, so Ms. Jenn dismissed everyone with the instructions to memorize their lines. 

Ricky was glad they ended early, as his mind was elsewhere. All he could think about was EJ reading his text and judging Ricky’s intelligence based on it. Not to mention what he had typed to Nini.

After gathering his things, Ricky ran off to catch up with Nini. He ended up having to run out the front doors and sprint to her side so he could get to her before she got into the car. 

“ _Hey—_ ” he signed. “ _You me, I know we not together now. I understand. You tell me. BUT I think we trust still, right? No. I think I still small important, right? No.”_

Nini shook her head and held up her hand. “ _Stop. I talk-to-you now, I can’t._ ”

“ _OK,_ ” Ricky signed. “ _BUT first. If I text you, vulnerable, private, you not share. Please? I hear EJ tell-me I stupid and weird, that, I not need._ ”

Nini furrowed her brow. “ _Text? You text-me?_ ”

Ricky was a bit taken aback by that. He raised an eyebrow at Nini. 

“ _EJ tell-you?_ ” Nini didn’t wait for an answer; instead, she gazed over Ricky’s shoulder and frowned. She stared in that direction for another moment before shaking her head and taking off. 

When Ricky glanced over his shoulder to see what Nini had been looking at, his eyes met EJ’s. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! xx


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